Displaying items by tag: board of trustees

At its October 2015 Board of Trustees meeting, the National Gallery of Art acquired a large number of drawings, prints and photographs that greatly strengthen its collection. Highlights include extraordinary drawings by Pieter Jansz Saenredam (1597–1665) and Hans Rottenhammer (1564–1625), a bound volume with over 200 15th-century woodcuts, as well as a painting from the Thesaurus series by Mel Bochner (b. 1940). Promised photographs include numerous outstanding gelatin silver prints by Diane Arbus (1923–1971), Richard Avedon (1923–2004), and Robert Frank (b. 1924).

San Francisco city officials are looking into a complaint filed against philanthropist and board president of San Francisco's de Young museum, Dede Wilsey, over a $450,000 payment to a museum staffer, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. The complaint from the museum's chief financial officer, Michele Gutierrez, is being investigated by City Hall and the office of the state Attorney General Kamala Harris.

The payment was allegedly made to Bill Huggins, a city worker assigned to the museum who retired in September 2014 after suffering a heart attack.

An important work by American painter Benjamin West was recently installed in the McGlothlin American Galleries. The portrait was acquired during the June 18 meeting of the VMFA Board of Trustees and is among the most valuable acquisitions in VMFA history.

Benjamin West, also known as the “father of American painting,” was at one point the most prominent painter in the British Empire. He served as President of the Royal Academy, History Painter to the King, and Surveyor of the King’s Pictures until his death in 1820. While in London, he also mentored American artists Charles Wilson Peale, Gilbert Stuart, and John Trumball – each of whom is represented in VMFA’s American Galleries.

Whether it achieved its goal of preserving the legacy of the Corcoran Gallery is debatable, but the landmark agreement that broke apart Washington’s oldest private museum has been an absolute bonanza for the National Gallery of Art.

After its board of trustees approves the next round of acquisitions on Oct. 1, the National Gallery of Art will have accessioned about 40 percent of the Corcoran’s collection, including priceless pieces by Edgar Degas, Frederic Edwin Church, John Singer Sargent and Carrie Mae Weems.

The Columbus Museum of Art announced that its new wing will be named the Margaret M. Walter Wing in recognition of Robert D. and Margaret “Peggy” Walter’s transformational $10 million donation to the Columbus Museum of Art. The Walters’ donation remains the largest gift in the Museum’s history and became the foundation for the Museum’s Art Matters Endowment and Capital Campaign.

The Walters are long-time supporters of the Museum. Peggy Walter began leading Museum tours as a CMA docent in 1971 and later joined the Museum’s Women’s Board auxiliary. She has also helped guide the Museum as a member of the Board of Trustees since 1994.

Today, Margot Bogert, chair of the Frick Collection’s board of trustees, announced three new trustee-elects: banker Elizabeth “Betty” Eveillard, philanthropist Monika McLennan, and banker J. Fife Symington IV, who is a great-great-grandson of the Frick’s founder, Henry Clay Frick.

Bogert publicly welcomed the new board members in a statement:

The Whitney has appointed new officers to its board of trustees, the institution reports. Neil G. Bluhm and Laurie M. Tisch have been named board co-chairmen, while Richard M. DeMartini will now act as president. The new co-chairmen succeed Robert J. Hurst and Brooke Garber Neidich, who led the Whitney through its move to the Meatpacking District, and who will continue to serve on the board. The board’s former treasurer, DeMartini succeeds Bluhm who has acted as president since 2008.

Elaine Wynn and Antony Ressler have been elected as the new board co-chairs of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, officials announced Thursday. They succeed Andrew Brandon-Gordon and Terry Semel, who will remain on the museum board with the title co-chairs emeriti.

Wynn joined LACMA's board of trustees in 2011 and is an active art collector. She was the reported buyer in 2013 of the $142.4 million Francis Bacon triptych painting of Lucian Freud — then a record sum for a painting sold at auction. 

William J. Chiego, Director of the McNay Art Museum since 1991, has informed the museum’s Board of Trustees of his intention to step down from the directorship of the McNay on September 30, 2016. By that date he will have served more than 25 years as director, only the second leader of the museum in its 62 year history.

During Chiego’s tenure at the McNay, the collection more than doubled from 9,000 to over 20,000 works of art and the museum’s footprint nearly tripled to well over 100,000 square feet.

The Hyde Collection announced the appointment of Erin B. Coe as its new director. Ms. Coe earned a national reputation as an American art historian and curator who spearheaded The Hyde Collection’s widely acclaimed Georgia O’Keeffe exhibition in 2013.

“We are absolutely delighted to have the opportunity to bring Erin Coe back to The Hyde,” said Tenee R. Casaccio, chair of the Hyde Board of Trustees. “Erin’s energetic and passionate leadership, her scholarship and knowledge of The Hyde, her reputation in the art world and her strong relationships with donors and collectors will help The Hyde strengthen its ties to the community and its reputation as one of the Northeast’s leading small art museums.”